Fluid-sealing closure base for floral display globes



Get. 3, 1939. E" E R 2,174,771

FLUID SEALING CLOSURE BASE FOR FLORAL DISPLAY GLOBES Filed Nov. 26, 1938 Fiji v 7 /Z /a V uv l/&NTO2* Bow/12.0 r4. -5E/VDE2 J H TTOQNE'YI Patented Oct. 3, 1939 UNETED S A'E'ES FLUID-SEALING CLOSURE BASE FOR FLORAL DISPLAY GLOBES Edward A. Bender, Pasadena, Calif.

Application November 26, 1938, Serial No. 242,489

1 Claim.

This invention relates generally to flower and plant display devices and more particularly to transparent globular containers in which cut flowers are sealed and displayed in a body of liquid such as water, in order to obtain the magnifying, beautifying and preserving effects of the water upon the flowers for ornamental purposes.

An object of this invention is to provide a floral display globe embodying a closure forming base which is structurally characterized in a novel manner to coact with the globe in mechanically sealing a base opening thereof fluid tight with absolute security against leakage, so that maximum preservation of the contents will be had, and the possibility of water damage to the surroundings of the globe obviated.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fluid sealing closure base, for floral globes which is in the form of an integral elastic body coacting with the wall of the globe to form a triple seal, by exerting an internal expanding force upon an annular surface of the globe, an external constricting force upon a peripheral surface of the globe, and sealing pressure against the edge of an annular flaring flange or lip bounding the base opening of the globe, all while permitting the base to be easily applied to the globe and as readily removed therefrom.

With thesev and other objects in view, the invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of elements as set forth in the following specification, and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a view showing in vertical section a floral display globe, with one form of the invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the invention, and.

Figure 3 is a diametric sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring specifically to the drawing, the invention in its present embodiment comprises an integral body Ill of yieldable or resilient material such as elastic rubber, for example, which body is a disk having an annular groove II therein adjacent its periphery, and extending through the major thickness of the disk from one face thereof.

The groove II provides a closure plug portion I2 surrounded by an annular sealing flange portion I3, and is adapted to receive the flaring collar I4 bounding the filling opening I5 of a globular receptacle I6 of transparent material, such as glass.

The diameter of the plug portion i2 is such as to require that it be forced into the opening I5 so that the peripheral surface ll of the portion I2 will tend to expand against the inner surface of the collar and thus provide an internal radially expanding fliud tight seal.

The internal diameter of the annular sealing portion I3 is such that the portion I3 will be expanded as the collar I4 enters the groove II, and will be deformed by the flare of the collar, as shown in Figure 1, so as to exert a constricting force upon the collar in order that the internal annular surface I8 of the portion I3 will have contact with the outer surface of the collar, thus providing an external radially constricting fluidtight seal.

Due to the flare of the collar I4, and the attending deformation of the annular sealing portion I3, the tendency of the latter in exerting its constricting force upon the collar is to be cammed by the collar in an axial direction, so as to urge the bottom wall I9 of the groove II into engagement with the edge or end face of the collar and thus exert sufficient pressure thereagainst to create a fluid-tight seal. Thus, the filling opening I5 will be triple sealed fluid-tight by the coaction of the body with the collar I4.

In the use of the floral display device, one or more stakes in the form of pins 20 are pushed into the plug portion I2 at the grooved side of the body I0, and the cut stems of suitable flowers applied to the stakes so as to be supported thereby. With the receptacle I6 inverted, water is supplied thereto through the filling opening I5, in sufficient quantity to approximately flll the receptacle, following which the body I0 is applied to the collar I4 of the receptacle to seal the contents thereof fluid-tight.

The receptacle can now be restored to upright position and the base forming body It] then placed in the opening 2| of a holder 22 which forms an ornamental support for the receptacle.

It W111 be appreciated that in addition to the camming action of the flared collar I4 upon the annular sealing portion I3, the weight of the receptacle and its contents serve to increase the tightness of the seal at the bottom wall I9 of the groove I I to further insure the fluid-tightness of the triple seal provided by the body III, whereby to positively prevent leakage of water from the receptacle.

What is claimed is:

In a floral display device of the type including a globular transparent receptacle having a filling opening bounded by a flaring collar, a fluid sealing closure base comprising an integral disk body of resilient material having a narrow straightwalled annular groove in one face thereof defining a closure plug portion and a surrounding annular sealing portion; the external diameter of said plug portion being such as to require it to be forced into the filling opening and deformed from its straight-walled condition to conform to the internal flared surface of said collar, whereby to provide an expanding fluid-tight seal in the collar, and the internal diameter of said annular lar; the inner surface of said annular sealing 5 portion having a camming action upon the flare of the collar to draw the body axially into fluidtight sealing engagement of the bottom wall of said groove with the outer edge of the collar,

whereby to provide a triple fluid-tight seal be- 10 tween the body and the receptacle.

EDWARD A. BENDER. 

